88 Stars
by MelodicSecrets
Summary: All Lucy wanted was a real family. And he gave her one. (Nalu Mythical / Universe AU) (probably discontinued)
1. I

**I. Archi**

 **Beginning**

* * *

"This is the worst day _ever!"_ Lucy threw her hands up and ran them through her hair for the thirtieth time that day.

The world was against her, she decided.

 _First,_ she failed her test. Then, she got yelled at by the spirit king for putting whipped cream on his pillow, which she didn't do, then Aquarius has the audacity to laugh at her and tell her how terrible of a prank it was.

This place was just too stressful.

"Oh, Lady Lucy, please do calm down- I'm sorry!" Aries stumbled.

The two young ladies were strolling through the castle garden, as they often did together. Something about the place was so invigorating. The roses and the violets, the bushes and trees of fresh fruit… The garden was where Lucy felt truly alive. And of course, her and Aries were friends, and everything is better with company, so the two enjoyed wandering this way and that together.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry for complaining so much, its just that-" she paused. It was her birthday. But they didn't have to know that. "-I'm just really stressed out and the King and Aquarius aren't helping, you know?"

Aries, thankfully, just nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry, but I understand." Her curled pink hair bobbed in sync with her head.

Lucy didn't like her birthday. She was glad that the celestial spirits forgot things quickly—even though she was technically a spirit too…

Lucy stretched her arms a bit. The light blue sleeves of her customary Spirit Uniform stretched over her shoulders and she yawned. When she was done with Aries, she was going to take a nice, long nap.

The two linked their arms together and walked around as per usual- with just a tad bit more irritated Lucy.

* * *

When she finally came back inside, Lucy was capitol W, Worn out. She had walked around for longer than expected, and she probably would have walked for longer if Aries hadn't reminded her of dinner.

Oh, _dinner._ She sighed to herself as she walked to the dining room. One of the few things to look forward to around here.

The hallways didn't give her much in the form of entertainment as she walked through them. At first, when she was young, she had been fascinated by all the vases, the pictures, and even the carpets. Her old home didn't even compare. And that was a lot to say, considering she was raised in an Imperial household.

Now, however, after living here for so long, she had memorized every turn and twist. The paintings that where once the faces of new friends were now just colors on paper and canvases.

After a good 10 minute walk, Lucy arrived at the dining room. Maids were rushing this way and that, all commanded brutally by Virgo. As she took her seat, she was served foods that, to any other Imperial, would look more like some kind of exotic fish- probably poisonous. She knew it to be, yes, a fish, that was native to the Celestial Spirit world, which made it reasonable that Imperials didn't recognize it.

Over the next 20 minutes, various other members of the Zodiac would begin to join the long table. Nobody had touched their plates yet. It was rude to eat without all members of the Celestial Council after all. Lucy amused herself with the usual small talk. How was her schooling going, did she do good on the test today, and such. There wasn't much room for boredom in a place so busy as the castle, she was sure.

When everyone had finally seated, it was already 45 minutes after Starlight.

 _Starlight_ was the basic eating time in the Spirit World. As a 'celebration' of the stars reaching their brightest peak during the night, or basically the time when the stars were the brightest, people would eat their dinner then. This was usually around 7 to 9. However, with how busy the castle was, and how often they had guests, eating at Starlight simply wasn't possible.

"Welcome to dinner!" The King's voice rung out bold and strong through the room. "Today, Virgo and her maids prepared us a delicious meal as always!" The King praised. Everyone rang out a "Thank you Virgo and Maids!" As always. By this point, it was less actually thanking and more get to the eating. "Today, we have varied guests." _Varied. How interesting. I wonder how they feel about half-breeds?_ Lucy mused. Varied meant that the guests were not all the same race. Maybe some pixies, or even a mermaid? Lucy never knew. After all, you can just change your form to the standard _"human",_ as they call it, shape.

This was what most opted to do. It would be to much work to contain a tail under a table, or talk to someone the size of a penny. Even the vicious dragons of Fiore often took a human form.

"Let us eat and engage in merry conversation!" The King finished. Everyone at the humongous table cheered and began to dig in to their food. Lucy wasn't a big fan of the fish they served today, so she just poked at it and ate her fruits and bread. The odd looking guest next to her seemed to enjoy the fish quite, quite a lot. As did his- his cat?!

The blonde pursed her lips in silent disapproval. How rude.

She turned to her the other guest next to her. "Hello," She greeted formally. "I'm Lucy."

The guest- sporting an orange tank top, white shorts, and wild blue hair, tamed only slightly by the headband above her forehead- looked up from her food.

"Hiya!" She was cheerful, especially compared to Lucy's formal introduction. Her brown eyes seemed to glow with a foreign emotion. "I'm Levy! I live in Magnolia. I'm here with my guild." A white and orange guild mark shined pridefully on the girl. Fairy Tail? Lucy tried to recall. It was difficult to remember all the guilds. Fiore was the land of Dragons and Guilds. Members of many races joined in Fiore, in various towns, for work and jewel.

"Pixie. You?" The girl—Levy, was it? – tilted her head.

"Half Imperial, Half Spirit." Lucy answered carefully. She was a mixed race, and some viewed mixed races as impure.

"Imperial. The people of wealth and riches. Are you a treasurer here then? " Her head tilted to the side, and blue hair framed her face. Lucy thought the messiness fit the girl.

Lucy shook her head in reply. It was a common inquiry. Imperials were people who had no magical ability. They lived in an isolated world called Earth. Imperials were notorious for being high-class, they usually lived in big, wealthy communities. It was no surprise that she would be an assumed treasurer of a sort. "I live in here," The blonde explained, "I have ever since I was young."

Thankfully, Levy didn't ask about her childhood, as others had. Rather, she asked, "Do you practice magic?"

"Nor much, but yes. The magic of the stars, Celestial magic."

Levy's eyes lit up. "Oh, I've heard of that one! Read about it, actually." She adjusted her orange headband. "It seems so cool and complex." Lucy nodded.

"It is." She agreed. "But I love it a lot! I'm hoping to join a guild one day, also. I might wait until I'm finished with school though." Levy looked thoughtful.

"Schooling isn't required for Guild Members," The small female reminded her.

"I know, but it would ease me to finish. Like, a sense of accomplishment." The blonde explained. Levy seemed to understand.

Her brown orbs searched Lucy for a second, before she said, "If you do join a guild, you should consider Fairy Tail. Then we could get to know each other better! You seem so nice."

"I might do that," Lucy replied simply, "but how about we get to know each other better now?" She took a bite of her salad, trying to crunch the crouton as quietly as possible.

"Sounds good to me!" Levy piped excitedly. "Lets say five things about ourselves." She recommended. "I'll go first. One, I was born and raised in a world south of here, with my mother and two teammates Jet and Droy. The world was named Lutin. It actually means Pixie in my native language. The people who named it were apparently oh-so creative." The girls laughed together. "Two, I looove reading."

Lucy gasped. "Reading! Novels and things?" She asked excitedly. Levy nodded seriously.

"Yep! Especially Romance and Adventure. I love studying foreign language and history books as well." The pixie listed.

"I'm actually writing a novel—I love reading too!" The blonde was excited to find a fellow reader. Most spirits were too innocent to read much romance, Why are they kissing? They are only teens! And you shouldn't be shirtless in front of others were the only comments she got about her favorite romance books, so there was no one else to really enjoy her passion with.

"Really? Can I read it?"

"U-Uh! I'm not so sure…" Lucy's eyes widened. She wasn't sure her writing was good enough for the public eye yet.

"Why write a novel if people can't read it…?" The bluenette questioned.

"…because."

* * *

The two ended up talking about books most of the remaining dinner. Their plates remained mostly untouched. Neither of them were too hungry though.

When it was two and a half hours after Starlight, and Levy and her Guild had to leave, Lucy was pretty disappointed. She and Levy had become good friends in the last two hours, and she didn't want to see a friend go.

"I'll visit, Lu." The girl promised before she left.

"Okay, you're welcome any time- oh, well maybe not weekdays because school but weekends sometimes-?"

"Don't worry, I'll figure out a good time to visit. Bye, Lu!" The pixie waved as she left. She was standing next to the pink haired man from the other side of her. He must be from Fairy Tail as well, Lucy figured.

"Bye!" She waved like a madman through the window. She watched Levy and her friends travel through a portal- to Magnolia, probably. Back to Fiore, and their guild.

"Lady Lucy…?"

It was Lyra, an entertainer of hers, who broke her out of her daze. I must have been staring off into space, she decided.

"Sorry, Lyra. Did someone need me?"

The spirit held up a towel and some pajamas. "It's time for your bath." She answered seriously.

"Oh, yeah," The blonde chuckled, "I probably wouldn't have taken it if you hadn't reminded me. Thanks, Lyra."

She gathered the towels and clothes from the girl, and thanked her once more. "You can be done for the day," she smiled.

"Thank you, Lady Lucy!" Lyra scampered off.

Lucy watched her before heading into her room. She grabbed her toiletries from the top of her dresser and headed in to take a bath.

While she bathed, she thought about something that had come up often with Levy. A very important question.

 _Should I join a guild…?_

* * *

 _ **ANANANANAN!**_ This is the story I've mentioned before- the name might change but I think it will stay, hopefully? I said I was gonna write ahead first but that didn't work so well so I figured I would just go ahead and post this. **i hope to post at least weekly. Maybe Saturday?** im very busy with school and honor society so we will have to see ^^; I'm actually at a football game working right now but I'm not getting much to do so I'm posting this. **im probably going to write a new summary at some point too.**

 _ **IT WILL BE A LITTLE CONFUSING.**_

the story is very intricate and has many different races and each race has a back story. If you want, I could give a little definition of the races mentioned I'm chapters at the end of each chapter, because they're different from the traditional way. Pixies are different in this and they are in our fairy tales, and that stuff. Anyways this is sorta long so OOONTO the story


	2. II

**II.** **Occurrentes**

 **Meeting**

* * *

Natsu didn't have attractions to people. It had just never happened. Sure- he was Hetero and stuff, but he wasn't attracted to anybody. Lisanna had been the only exception to this, and, well… Yeah.

So when he turned to Gray and asked him about the blonde sitting beside him, he figured Gray wouldn't suspect much. He could feel the sadness in her eyes, but he could sense the excitement radiating from her as well. She was certainly bonding with Levy.

"You wanna ask about a _girl?!"_ Gray hadn't answered any of Natsu's questions, so Natsu didn't know if Gray knew her name or anything.

She seemed to be so excited, but the sadness she held worried him. He wished he could help.

Levy kept talking to her all night though, and he never got a chance.

* * *

"Mira!" Natsu stumbled over broken cups and chairs of all sorts and slapped a mission request down on the counter. "I'm gonna take this one!"

It was a simple job request.

 _" Please save our village!_

 _Roots and weeds are overgrowing everywhere. Someone strong, please pull them up Before they destroy us._

 _Location: Chlorida, Patrida_

 _Reward: 30000 Jewels"_

A bit odd but it wasn't his job to judge the missions, he was just supposed to do them.

"My my, this one looks interesting." Commented Mira. She put a stamp on a chart- mission in progress, it read.

"Here you go."

Natsu took the paper from her outstretched hand. "Thanks!" He cheered. He called for his partner. Happy, whp rushed up to him immediately.

"Did you pick out a mission, Natsu?"

He showed the exceed his paper. "That's a dumb lookin' mission." Natsu shrugged and wiggled his shoulder, and Happy promptly landed on it.

"Jewel is jewel, buddy." He waved to the guild as they exited.

Magnolia was breezy as always. The streets were lined with vendors and small playing children. The Sakura trees were barely visible, noteworthy only due to the petals falling and flittering into the Magnolia river. On a far hill you could see the towering Lacrima Train used to go from universe to universe. The train was powered by speed lacrima, and thus could travel through space at an unthinkable speed. That's where he and Happy were headed.

The only problem is that the Lacrima Train him sick. It was really a bother as Lacrima Transportation can take a while, even as speedy as it was. The universe system was pretty big after all.

Happy bounced off of Natsu's shoulder and grabbed him. "I'll fly you!" He cheered. Small blue paws latched onto Natsu's black vest before he could even reply.

Swiftly and routinely Happy flew Natsu to the Lacrima Train. Patrida was quite a ways away and it would be a long trip there, and a long trop back.

When they landed, Happy rested on Natsu's firm shoulder. The train station was just like every other train station, in that it had a chart of the different universes on it. However, it was notably different due to the gigantic sign reading _Fiore, of Fairies and Dragons and Magic_ , in large classic print.

"Train to _Patrida_ now leaving! Now leaving!" Called an elf, whom was standing by the entry to the train.

"Poor Natsu," He heard his partner remark.

Natsu looked at the train in dismay. It was big and disgusting.

Mavis help him.

* * *

"Is that _supposed_ to be a bug?"

Lucy's life right now, in a nutshell, would be " _I'm_ _screwed"._

Recently, she had declared to the king that she was leaving. She wanted to join a guild in Fiore, of the Fae and the Dragons. He agreed that it was okay, but she would have to ask a dryad noble something beforehand. The king liked to send messages to other people way ahead of time. In this circumstance he was inquiring whether or not the Dryads would be attending the Annual Celestial Festival in three months.

Dryads lived in Patrida, a universe that was very grassy on just about every planet. It was nicely taken care of usually, but on the dryad planet, Chlorida, weeds and roots seemed to be overgrowing everywhere. You might think it's strange for Dryads to not be able to care for these things, but they are unable to tend to weeds or roots because they have an attachment to every one, so they often put in requests at guilds to get them cleared.

To say the place was kind of gross was an understatement. Roots and weeds were everywhere, yeah, but on top of that, disgusting bugs and snakes and just scary things seemed to be everywhere.

"They really need to clean this place up,"

"I agree!" Lucy heard an enthusiastic voice reply.

"E-Eh?" Behind her, apparently just chilling, was a strange man. He had unruly hair. It was cherry-pink, maybe more accurately… salmon? He was wearing a vest that was pitch black. Under it, covering his bare chest, was a crimson red tank top with a black symbol in the middle. He had baggy black pants and sandals, which probably weren't the best for this kind of environment. To top it all off, he had a scaly looking scarf and a gigantic scar on his cheek. And… a floating cat.

Lucy supposed she had seen weirder things.

"Oh!" He sounded delighted. "You're the one chick!"

"I-I'm sorry, do I know you…?" Lucy kept her voice even, but she was a bit baffled.

"I saw you at a dinner in the Spirit World a few weeks ago," he explained.

"O-oh! We spirits have a bad memory," She apologized. "So if we talked, I might need a refresher…"

"Naaah," he waved off, "We didn't talk. You mostly talked to Levy. I sat on the other side of you. " His eyes were alight with a certain curiosity she couldn't explain.

"I remember Levy!" That was the blue haired pixie who was from Fairy Tail! "Do you know Levy?"

"We're in the same guild!"

"Fairy Tail?"

"Mhhm!" He showed her the fairy tail symbol on his arm.

"Can you take me?" Lucy questioned.

"T-to Fairy Tail?" He looked a bit surprised, and maybe Lucy should have gotten to know him first. Well, she should have at least asked his name, but she was excited. Pretty excited, to be honest.

"Yeah! I want to join. I'm Lucy. You are…?"

"Natsu. This is Happy!" He pointed to the cat flying above him.

"Aye sir!" The cat, err- no, Happy said.

She looked from the cat to the man eagerly. "So, can I come with?"

Natsu shrugged, "I mean, I guess so. S'always nice to get new members, I 'spose."

"Yay!" Lucy cheered. "Now that that's cleared up, why are you here in Patrida?"

Natsu had started walking again, so she walked alongside him. "I'm actually the one who's supposed to clear these weeds and stuff up. I was on my way to one of the Dryads who put the guild request in when I saw you complaining." He explained.

"How about you?"

"Well, I'm on my way to ask a Dryad noble if he plans on joining the Celestial festival. Then I was going to go find the Fairy Tail guild, but luckily I met you!" The male smiled widely.

"You won't regret joining Fairy Tail."

Lucy nodded. She was excited to join, and Levy had told her all about Fairy Tail as well. She might have even mentioned Natsu, if Lucy thought hard!

"Who are you headed to?" Natsu questioned.

"A man named Warrod."

"That's where we're headed too!" Happy piped in. Lucy hadn't heard much from Happy yet, so she was kind of surprised when he answered.

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy ended up talking and walking together all the way to Warrod's house.

Natsu was apparently part demon, part dragon. Luckily, dragon blood was dominate. Like brown eyes or right hand genes.

"What are dragons like?" She had asked.

"They're big," he pulled his hands far apart in the air, "They usually are really boldly colored, too. Deep, bold colors. My dad was this really bold red. Some are soft though. Like Grandine. She was a really soft white color."

Lucy ignored the past tense was, because she knew she didn't know him enough to ask personal questions like that. "They are really strong and they taught me all kinds of stuff!"

And Natsu also apparently was some kind of demon royal person, not that she would know much about demons. He apparently rejected the demon world though, which was something Lucy was thankful for. Those touched by Tartaros usually never saw the light of day, let alone being raised as a demon in Tartaros… it would be terrible.

When it came to herself, like Natsu, she gave vague answers. "Half spirit, half imperial." She said simply, and that explained it. Her mom was a spirit, her dad was imperial, and that's all she would say.

Lucy was much more cheerful than usual but what could she say? She was joining a guild… she was finally serving some sort of purpose.

Even if she had to tag along with this weird man...

She couldn't wait!

* * *

 **Patrida: Homeland (Roughly… Greek)**

 **Chlorida: Flora (Roughly… Greek)**

 **Patrida is a universe, Chlorida is the Dryad planet. Chlorida, Patrida**

 **Tartaros is the universe demons live in. I think you could guess that though**.

* * *

 **AAAA I'm so sorry this is late *sob* I know that's sort of a bad impression but I had NO time to write this until just now, and I'm literally barely editing this because I'm so busy saagdhsjs. I have a lot going on recently and was busy all weekend and also...**

 **Mystic messenger has doomed me and destroyed my social life. (Who am I kidding, I have no social life TvT.)**

 **I'lI try to get on time this saturday *sob***

 _ **ALSO 503 RIP ME. REST IN PIECES KAT XXXX TO 2K16. Am I the only one who doesn't look forward to the angst and stuff? I'm more of a fluffy person unless it's nalu (then me and angst get married and have 37 babies.)**_

 **I Tried to give some kind of title for the chapter so hopefully it works in the future ^^.**

 **I know it all seems kind of confusing but it will make more sense as you get to know the story better :).**

 **ALSO LET ME CLEAR SOMETHING UP RIGHT HERE. Lucy wants to join fairy tail so bad, the fact that she ignored Natsu just popping up outta nowhere and jumping the gun and asking to come along is part of her sorta child like excitement. :0**

 **Also...**

 **Jingerr-** **thank you! And also I know right? Levy is one of my favorites so I had to make her a race I would be especially interested in, you could say**

 **Pssst...**

 **You should all review for kat ;)**

 **See you next chapter :0**


	3. III

**III. Apostoli**

 **Mission**

* * *

"Is it here...?"

Towering above Natsu and Lucy was a large house. It looked more like a tree than a house though.

"I think so..." Natsu looked at his map. "This is where it says it is... I think."

"Well, we can just ask if not." Lucy went up and knocked on the wooden door.

"Hello? This is Fairy Tail! Is this Warrod? She decided to address herself as a part Fairy Tail since she was about to join anyways.

"Oh! I'm coming! Please wait." The wooden door opened reavealing an old looking dryad. His body had a striking resemblance to a tree, which was common for Dryads.

"Welcome, welcome! Are you here to help with weeds and roots?" Warrod's eyes scanned Lucy, who was rather frail and pale. "I don't know if this is a job for someone like you, miss. You, however," his gaze moved to the more muscular Natsu, "Should be able to do it. I mean, the girl possibly could."

"I'm Natsu, here with Fairy Tail," Natsu motioned to himself, "But Luigi is here to deliver a message." He explained. He opted to ignore the 'It's Lucy!'

"Oh, I see." The Dryad turned back to face Lucy. "...You are a... Spirit?"

Lucy nodded. "Half Spirit, half Imperial. The King sent me here. How could you tell?"

The old man laughed. His voice was rough with age, and his skin was crinkling. "Spirits are very pale. They have large, endearing eyes. However, your face... It certainly has the beauty of an Imperial."

Instead of pondering how he noticed much things in just about two minutes, Lucy smiled. A light blush dusted her cheeks. "Thank you, Warrod, sir!"

 _"Paracalo,_ " he waved her off in fluent omilian.

"And you, " his eyes were alight as he eyed Natsu, who had been standing and waiting, suprisingly patient. "You are the son of Igneel, no doubt."

Natsu let out an excited laugh. "Did you know Igneel, old timer?"

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded the Dragon, before Warrod could reply. "Don't call people old timers. That's rude!"

"Don't worry, don't worry. I am most certainly old." Warrod smiled. "Yes, I knew Igneel. I have known him since he was a mere whelp."

Igneel- the name sounded familiar, but Lucy couldn't put her finger on why.

Natsu seemed to be excited to meet someone who knew this Igneel. His eyes were bright and colorful, and he seemed to be contagiously happy, because he made Lucy want to grin as well. Happy was just watching silently. He seemed a bit happy too.

"Anyways, Miss... Lucy? Ah yes, Lucy. What message have you to deliver, _paidi?"_ Warrod looked back to her.

"In two months will be the Annual Celestial Festival. The King wants to know if you'll be attending this year."

The Dryad looked down thoughtfully. "Two months?"

"Well, I could use a little getting out and about. Ah, well, Nai, I will come." The man agreed.

"I will tell him. _Anypomono na."_ _I look forward to it._

"And now you. Are you here for the work request I put in?" Inquired Warrod. "I assume so..."

"Yup! That's me, right Happy?"

"Aye sir!"

"Thank goodness, well, come in, come in! Don't be shy, _paidi,_ my child, and we will discuss the mission!" He motioned to his door and the open room, moving to the side so the three could walk in.

As she walked in, Lucy hoped she could be of some help. Even if she wasn't physically strong. Hmm

* * *

In the end, Natsu and Happy didn't let Lucy help them.

"Why?" She had whined. Happy and Natsu just insisted that this was their mission- if she helped, they would have to share their money. Plus, she couldn't do missions if she wasn't a member.

She spent the next three days reading Warrod's books- he had a large library, and Lucy did love to read.

She got to know Natsu and Happy better as well, and she secretly pulled some weeds up when they weren't looking; she wanted to be a little helpful.

After those three days, Warrod gave Natsu and Happy their reward, and even gave Lucy a book she had been interested in.

Then the trio headed over to the spirit world.

"Well?" Grumbled the King upon Lucy's enterance.

"Warrod will be coming." She confirmed.

The King cracked out a grin. "That's good. Now, tell me, who is that young man? And the cat?"

"Oh! This is Natsu," she pointed to the demon, "And Happy!" Her hand motioned to the flying feline. "They're talking me to Fairy Tail!" She seemed ecstatic.

"Aye sir! We were here a few weeks ago with Fairy Tail. You probably forgot." Happy explained.

"Ah, I probably did. Natsu and Happy, hmm?"

Natsu was looking at the king curiously.

Instead of introducing himself, Natsu simply inquired, _"Yo,_ how long did that mustache take to grow?"

"Natsu!"

* * *

The Fairy Tail guild hall was a wreck, and Lucy didn't even have to go inside to know it. She could tell by the table that just flew out the window.

"Oh dear... Natsu, are you sure its safe in there?"

"Of course!" He gave her a funny look. "Why _wouldn't_ it be?

"Ah, you know what," Lucy sighed, "nevermind. Let's just go in."

"Yosh. Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Natsu pushed open the large, wooden doors to the guild.

And the second she stepped in, she had regrets.

"What the- _Loke!"_ She heard a shout. "Careful where you touch!"

Oh dear.

"Gray! Put your underwear on!

"Crap, when did that happen?" She heard a deep voice curse.

"Excuse me, miss." The same voice she just heard appeared beside her, and she turned to see a tall, muscular, _NAKED_ man.

"U-Um-"

"Could I borrow some underwear?"

"P-pervert!" She blushed as brought up her leg and gave him a good Lucy-Kick to the face.

"Whoah, Lucy! You are literally the best!" Beside her, Natsu seemed to be wheezing and dying in laughter at the sight of the raven-haired male.

"Lucy," he managed out, "this is Gray. He's a stripper, from the universe of _Strip-landia."_

Strip-landia? Did he _expect_ her to believe that?

"What was that, Flamehead?" Gray shot up from the ground to glare at Natsu.

"You heard me, Popsicle!"

Lucy just stepped back slowly as the two men's foreheads collided and they initiated a full on brawl, with half the guild eventually joining in. The other half just continued on with what they were doing causally. One man seemed to be hovering by a bulletin board. Another seemed pretty cozy with a broom. Then there was the man that was just talking to this kid- a kid who was so young she wasn't sure he should be in this guild at all. There were other people not participating in the fight; she saw someone with white-silver hair casually washing some dishes; another person painting a picture of a fairy. And she also saw...

"Levy!" She cheered. Lucy ran up to her, hoping that Levy might save her from death by raging guild members.

"Oh, Lucy!" The pixie looked up happily. _"Salve!"_ She greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here with Natsu." Lucy ran her fingers through her hair subconsciously. "We bumped into each other in Patrida. I decided to join Fairy Tail." She explained.

Levy formed an 'o' with her mouth. "I see... What happened to finishing school first?"

Lucy shrugged. "I mean, I planned on it but getting into a guild means I don't have to worry about failing tests so..."

Levy laughed. "Well, Lu, I'm super excited! Come on and we'll get you registered." She held her arm out for Lucy to link hers into, but when Lucy walked closer to do such, she tripped over a piece of wood from all the destruction around.

"Ouch- _hey,_ what are you doing-?" The spirit was hoisted into the air and over someone's shoulder.

"Natsu! Put me down, jerk!" She pounded on his chest in confusion, while Natsu just smiled cheekily. "I'll take her to get signed up! Don't worry 'bout it."

The pixie pouted. "But I wanna take Lu to get signed up myself." But Natsu was already walking off.

He let go of Lucy when she stopped squirming. "We'll get you signed up and then you can fill out the papers for the buddy system- oh wait, do you wanna participate in the buddy system?"

"What's the buddy system?"

"Basically, ya get assigned a parter of the same gender and room together and stuff. It's the guilds fancy way of helping people who don't want to pay rent for an apartment." Natsu grinned.

"We should partner up!"

"Uh, noo!" Lucy waved her hands around swiftly. "I am _NOT_ rooming with a dense idiot like you. Especially since you are a _male_ and I am most certainly a _female."_ She crossed her arms over her chest.

"But-" He began.

"No buts. The buddy system does sound helpful though, so I'll think about buddying with someone. Someone _female,_ " she emphasized.

"You can't room with Levy, though. She rooms with Erza. There's no one else for you to room with that you know."

Lucy shrugged. "I'll figure it out later. I don't mind staying in an apartment for a while..."

For such a rowdy guild, the guild master seemed calm enough. And tiny enough, too.

"Umm, excuse me? I was wondering if I could apply here? I'm Lucy." She greeted shyly upon entering his office.

The master looked up. "Ah, a new recruit?" He seemed pleased. "I'm Makarov. Take a seat."

Lucy sat down in a seat opposite her desk. All of a sudden, she felt self conscious. What if she looked horrid? What if the guild didn't want her or something?

Master looked up at Natsu, who was hovering behind Lucy's chair.

"Oh dear, please excuse him, Miss Lucy. Natsu, _what_ are you doing?"

Natsu shrugged. "I brought her here, so I'm just gonna chill until she gets her stuff done, then we can buddy up-"

"No, Natsu," she sighed in exasperation. This guy was a handful.

"If you're going to be in here, then at least set down." Makarov motioned to the seat beside Lucy's.

Natsu's eyes lit up due to the fact that he wasn't kicked out. He sat down and rested his arm on Lucy's shoulder.

Lucy filled out some papers and talked with Makarov and boom, she was signed up.

"I don't know what to color my guild mark!" She exclaimed, when asked what she wanted for a mark. "I know I want it on my hand," she held a hand up, "But what color? Ahhh, should it be blue or yellow or-"

"It should be _pink!"_ Natsu chimed in.

Lucy figured pink would work. But, "Why?"

"Cause pink is awesome!" He leaned back in his chair and grinned.

With a roll of her eyes, Lucy agreed. Why not, after all? Her mom's favorite color had been pink, and it was the color of her best friends hair back home...

"Oh, _fine._ Pink, on my hand please." She held her hand out and Makarov applied the clean stamp.

"Whoah, really? I didn't expect you to agree! Awesome!" Lucy opted to just ignore him.

"Now, at our guild is a buddy system. Have you heard of it?"

Lucy nodded. "Natsu explained it. It sounds very beneficial."

"It is, it is. Now, there's only one member that's currently enrolled in the buddy system without a partner, and that's Mirajane. Would you be okay with partnering with her? She's very kind and tidy. If not, we can buddy you with nobody, until someone comes along. However, if you go three months without a buddy, than you are removed from the system and put on a wait list."

"Ah, that won't be necessary. I don't mind buddying with Mirajane, as long as she is okay with it."

"I'm sure she will be ecstatic!" Master smiled, though there was a certain bitterness to it. "She lost her partner a while back, and so she was allowed to keep her home due to the circumstances, but she's been waiting patiently for a partner. You don't have to do much with her out of the house, but you will be rooming together in a guild provided home. There's two bedrooms, so don't worry about that." She felt Natsu's arm tense up when Master mentioned Mira's loss of a partner.

Master handed her some papers to fill out over the buddy system.

Once she was finished, Makarov held his hand out and shook hers firmly.

"Welcome to _Fairy Tail!"_

* * *

 **Paracolo- You're welcome / don't mention it**

 **Paidi- child**

 **Anypomono na- I look forward to it**

 **Salve- Hello**

 **(Approximately, according to Google translate xD)**

* * *

 **i will update on time at some point. I think I'll change update times from SATURDAY to WEEKENDS that way I have all Saturday to write it : P who else was torn apart by 504? I'm gonna write a oneshot at some point.**

 **AnnaYasashii- Thank you! If you can't tell, I'm trying to barrel through the beginning in a way because I'm so excited to write their adventures, haha! And yay, I updated! Hehe.**

Remember to review for me ;3


	4. IV

**IV. Domus Meus**

 **My Home**

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Lucy knocked on the door to her new house. She was pretty nervous. The blonde hoped that Mira would accept her happily.

"Coming~" The voice that wafted through the front door called. If that voice was Mira, she seemed nice.

While she waited, she noted her surroundings. The house d a sign out front that showed interracial support. It read, ' _NO RACISM ALLOWED_!'

At least I know she isn't racist, thought Lucy happily. Some people didn't support the different universes mingling and it was a bit of a handful to deal with them all.

The house itself was very tidy looking. There was two floors, but it wasn't extravagant looking. Flowers, probably Magnolias, lined the front porch in the tidily kept flower bed.

Luckily, Lucy loved flowers. It seemed this Mirajane person did as well.

Nervously she waited. She shifted on her feet and glanced around. Hopefully, she didn't intrude on Mira.

The door finally opened after what seemed like forever, yet not nearly long enough.

At first, Lucy was taken aback by the Siren. Er was it, half siren half demon? One of the two. Mirajane was obviously very beautiful, and Lucy couldn't compare really. Mira's silver hair seemed to shine, and her eyes seemed kind yet powerful in the best way.

"Hello! Oh, a suitcase?" Mira tilted her head in confusion. "Can I help you...?"

"Actually, miss, I'm-"

"Oh!" Mira's eyes lit up in excitement, and she smiled. "Are you _Lucy?_ Come on in. Make yourself at home... Well, I guess it _is_ your home." The girl giggled softly.

Well, at least Mira was nice.

"Thank you!" Lucy observed her new home. The walls were just a plain white, but there were pictures all over them. She saw one of seemingly the whole guild. There was another one with her, a bulkier man, and a younger girl, probably about Lucy's age. There was even a picture of the girl and Natsu. Lucy was a bit curious, but it would be rude to ask so soon. The living room was rectangular and cozy, with pictures all over it as well. The couch was up against the back wall with a small end table on it. The end table had a book and a light lacrima on it. There were bookshelves and small other things around the room as well. The living room, to the right in the open floor plan, led into the nice kitchen. The kitchen was extremely well kept, and Lucy thought Mira might be a bit of a cook. Not that she would complain.

"If you want to hang your coat up...?" Mira gestured to the coat rack on the wall.

"Oh, thanks." Lucy hung her light jacket up on the coat rack and took her shoes off by the door.

"I'm Mira," she said, "I'm gonna be your buddy. I hope we can be good friends!" She held her hand out and Lucy shook it.

"I hope we can too!" Lucy replied as she shook her hand.

"Would you like me to show you to your room so you don't have to carry your suitcase around?" Lucy nodded thankfully and followed Mira down the hall.

"I've been living here for a while now, and it was getting kind of lonely," Mira begins, "So I'm glad that you are moving in." A sweet smile graced her lips. "I really enjoy having company."

"And thank you for letting me move in!" Lucy replied. "I don't want to seem like I'm intruding."

"Oh, no no!" Mira waved off. "Certainly not- Oh, here we are."

Lucy's door was a soft pink color, and the color stayed in the walls as well.

"My previous buddy liked the color pink," Mira's voice had quieted, "so I hope you do to."

"I do like pink," she confirmed. "Did your previous buddy move...? Not to intrude, I'm just a bit curious." She wheeled her suitcase into the room.

"Ah, my _previous_ buddy was actually my sister... She died a few years ago."

"Oh! I'm sorry for asking such a personal question." Lucy hoped she didn't seem rude now. Her heart panged with empathy for the woman.

"No, no. It would have been odd for you not to know." Mira said sweetly. "Don't worry. Now, there's a bed and a couch and a dresser in here, but not much else. That door," she pointed to the door in the corner, "leads to the bathroom. My room is also connected to the bathroom. It's a full bathroom and plenty of space though so don't worry. Just don't forget to lock both doors. There's another bathroom down the hall.

"I think that's about it... There are other rooms and you can probably just explore those yourself. But... I really want to get to know you as well!"

"I want to get to know you too." Lucy replied. "Whenever you get a free moment, maybe we could...?"

"I'm free right now and the rest of today. Why don't you come talk to me after you finish unpacking? I'll be making dinner since I don't work at the guild today. Me and _Kinana_ alternate days, you see. Kinana is a serpent, but don't worry, she's very nice." Mira offered.

"Sounds good!" Enthusiasm was laced into Lucy's voice.

Once Mira had left, Lucy sat down on the bed she was provided. It already had bedsheets and a comforter and pillow. The bedsheets were plain white and the comforter was a light blue, which contrasted the walls of the room.

Carefully, she pulled her black suitcase up on top of her new bed. It was mostly just clothes and her Celestial Keys.

It was a shame her keys didn't work, but she had other magic to use on missions. They were more of a reminder of her home than anything else.

She took our her clothes and put them in the pale colored dresser beside her bed. There was a mirror on top of the dresser, and she took a second to glance over her appearance.

She had went out and bought a new outfit earlier that day. All her clothes were mostly formal or pajamas, and when she visited Fairy Tail and saw how lazily everyone was dressed, she figured it was time for a change.

Now she was sporting a dark blue tanktop with brown short-shorts. Attached to her shorts were her whip and her trusty key ring. Then she had her brown boots and a star hairpin to top it all off.

 _Much better than those stuffy dresses in the celestial world_ , she decided.

She took out her hair tie and bow and put them by the mirror for another day, since she didn't wear them at home.

She opened the closet to hang up dresses and saw two hampers in the corner; one was tall and skinny, probable for cloths, and the other was short and wide and light blue, and she guessed it was for holding things. She dragged both hampers out and put them both in the corner. She smiled as she shamelessly unloaded her stuffed animal collection into the hamper.

She put her one picture frame, of her and her blood parents and Michelle onto the dresser along with her basic toiletries, like her strawberry hair and body wash.

That was about everything. She didn't have much, and all her books were back home... She had her novel with her and other small things like that in her backpack. Her mothers necklace was carefully placed on her dresser, away from everything else, for until she got a jewelry box.

It took Lucy about an hour to finish unpacking and refolding her clothes and putting away the small trinkets she had, but there was only one suitcase and a backpack full so it wasn't too hard.

Lastly, she took off her hairpin. Then she headed down excitedly to the kitchen... She couldn't wait to get to know Mira.

* * *

"And that's the story of how I learned to cook mermaid tails. I know a mermaid or too, though, so I don't make a habit of it." Lucy cheerfully laughed as Mirajane told her another odd tale. She had gotten to know her new housemate much better over a delicious meal of Spaghetti and Garlic Knots.

"Was it any good? The mermaid tail, I mean." Lucy asked inquisitively.

"Actually, yes. I'm just sad that poor old Joanna Lee was killed by that monster." The smile on Mira's face was bittersweet.

"I've had picked demon horns before." She commented. "It tastes like wood but apparently the Devil Hunters eat it a lot. Kinda scary if you ask me." Lucy paled. Mira nodded and commented on what made up demon horns. The two continued to talk well into the night, and Lucy recognized that this, like Levy and her, was the start of a good friendship. She was making so many friends at Fairy Tail and she had just joined! She wasn't complaining though. After all, _the more the merrier_ , right?

* * *

I have no excuses. I have only tears and tiredness and filler chapters.

OKAY but I was going to write then my friend was like "kat. I'm coming over" So then I had to be like "Fine I will put up with u" then I got out monster hunter and played it with her and got stuck on it and played it for the rest of the week and forgot to write because I suck. I'm sorry. Hit me.

Also pink is over 100 faves and I'm over 9000 percent dead. Xoxo. Rip kat 2016

I'll write a oneshot at some point to make up for all these late chapters... maybe. I have a bunch of old stuff I wrote forever ago that I could upload but they're old so I'm not so sure.

 ** _Thedeathwidow: Yay! :D_**

 ** _MissyPlatinum: 1- Thank you! It's kind of an experiment so we'll see how it goes... 2- AAAH YAH. I was going to make them wait more before meeting but I really wanted to write them together, ehehe... 3- Thanks so much! :) I hope it stays good :0 here's your more!_**


	5. V

**V. Mystiriódis**

 **Mysterious**

* * *

Wrong. She was _very_ wrong.

In a way, Lucy was right. She loved to be with lots of friends and family but that aside, it was all a bit overwhelming.

The second she entered the guild the day after she moved in, she was crowded by many people. They were up in her face, touching her hair- a brunette chick grabbed her boobs- and she wasn't too okay with that.

"Um," Lucy asked shakily, "Could you please stop...? You're crowding me..." She hoped it wasn't like this everyday, and if it was, she was extremely doomed.

So no, the more is not always the merrier.

Most of the people moved, thankfully. Levy stayed close to her, but Natsu and Hqappy were no where to be seen. She couldn't help but worry a little about the dragon and his cat.

Carefully she slumped her way over to the bar, where her roommate greeted her with a cheerful smile. "How's your first day going, Lucy?"

"It's kinda frightening," admitted the spirit. "I'm not used to bring crowded like this. Back home, I mostly just got left alone."

"Ah, well, here in Fairy Tail, there is no such thing as 'personal space'," Mira put her hands around her in a circular motion. "So good luck." The Siren-Demon giggled. Lucy just groaned in exasperation. She didn't get a chance to reply before a shaped arm threw itself around her shoulder.

"Eek!"

"You should join all the fun out here, Lucy!" _Natsu._

She turned around to glare at him. "No. Don't wanna. Not a chance." She stated, earning a pout.

"But Luceeee,"

"No," she deadpanned. "You can throw yourself into a bunch of fight and arguments and pain, but I'll stay over here, thank you very much." She waved him off to the crowd, before turning back to the bar to continue her conversation with Mira.

Instead of following her wave direction, he plopped down beside her.

"Can I help you?" She eyed him sideways. She was not amused- she just wanted to talk to her partner.

"Nope." He popped the p. "Unless you wanna come along on this!" He pulled a mission request out of nowhere onto the table.

"I didn't know you liked her enough to invite her on a quest, Natsu." Mira squealed, deciding to jump into the conversation. "But I think you're both prime OTP material, now that I think about it."

"Otp?" Natsu and Lucy questioned together.

Mira nodded excitedly and went to serve another member, her only reply being a small "Yes!"

Lucy opted to just ignore Mira and instead reply to Natsu. "Maybe. It depends. What mission is it?" She peered around him. "And where's Happy?"

"Happy's over there," Natsu pointed to Happy who was begging Mira for fish. "And it's a really simple mission. We just have to help this guy who dropped his book while mountain climbing. Gotta find the book. Don't you like books?"

Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "I mean, I guess I can go... Wait, I am getting part of the pay though, right?"

"Yup! Half and half, since me and Happy share. Please?!" The blonde sighed at Natsu's hopeful face. With his bangs falling so adorably and those eyes... Who could say no?

"Ah, fineee." She grumbled. "Just as long as I get money."

"Yaay!" Natsu cheered childishly, eliciting a sigh from Lucy.

"When are we goin'?"

"Today!" He grabbed her by the hand and yanked her toward the door.

"Eep!" Lucy squealed. "Today is so sudden! I literally /just/ joined the guild!"

Natsu just shrugged. "C'mon Happy!" He called.

Happy piped out an "Aye sir!" Before flying up to them.

Natsu grinned and pulled Lucy off towards the portal train. He didn't even give her a chance to walk. Just pulled.

This was gonna be an interesting mission.

* * *

"Mira!" A purple serpent waved to get Mira's attention.

"Oh, hey!" Mira waved and walked over to her.

Kinana clasped her hands in front of her frilly, green dress. "Did you see Natsu and the new recruit?"

"Lucy?" Mira's eyes lit up. "Yes!" She giggled. "Aren't they prime _OTP_ material?" She gushed.

Kinana nodded in agreement. "Definitely!" She replied. "We'll have to keep an eye out for them. For developments."

"They're still just becoming friends. However... I see their potential, Kinana!"

"Of course. Operation OTP, version 17, go?"

"We're at 17 now? Wow." Mira commented. The version sent to sy which time operation otp was used. So 'nalu' as she deemed it were the 17th pair they invested major time into.

"I agree. Time flies by so fast when you're shipping. Anyways, lets wait and see how nalu turns out. Sound good?"

"Definitely."

* * *

"You can't walk across the universe, Natsu. Get ON the train." Lucy grabbed said males shoulders and pushed him through the train station and up to the train.

She went to the ticket office to get their tickets, and was greeted by a loopy looking station clerk.

"Hehe... I see Dragneel's having problems again," bubbled the station clerk. "The conductors that drive through here tell me all about it." She giggled, and curled her finger around her poofy blonde hair. "He's pretty _famous!"_ she winked playfully "Anyways, how many tickets?"

"Ummm," Lucy sighed at the clerks dopey nature. She didn't look very sane but... Well, who was she to judge? "Two and a cat... Talking cat... Three?" She shrugged.

The clerk giggled once more and pulled out two tickets. "Happy rides free." She replied warmly.

"That's-a two hundered-o jewel!" She held her hand out and grinned.

Lucy sweatdropped and generously paid for both her and Natsu's tickets.

She received their tickets and handed them to the conductor as they entered.

"Now..." She led the grumbling Natsu and his cat to a compartment that looked like it would have the best view. "If you puke on me, I will end you." She glared at him, feeling a surge of pride at his pale-faced nod.

"Good. Now before this train starts moving, and I lose you," she began, but was cut off by a screeching noise as the train began to travel across space.

Natsu was now huddled in the corner of the booth, his face green. "Argh..." He grumbled before glaring out the window. "Whyyyy..." He whined.

Lucy just flicked the back of his head and he flinched and crumpled over more.

She smiled mischeviously. He was so vulnerable in this state. She turned her flick into a short, gentle tap on the head that seemed to have less of a reaction from him.

Their bags needed to put away, so while Natsu reeled on disgust and hurl, Lucy went ahead and put their bags in the compartments above their seats.

"Poor Natsu..." Happy meowed, though he didn't seem to think Natsu was in a bad situation, as he was a giggling mess.

"Is it always this bad?" Lucy gestured to the male. Happy nodded.

"Never goes away. Oh well." The Exceed shrugged and pulled out a fish from his green back pack, which covered his guild mark. As he munched on it, Lucy took a moment to marvel over the fact that she was watching a rather peculiar cat-child scarf a fish down.

"Ah well," she sighed to herself as she got comfortable, deciding to ignore the sickly demon and his cat. "Might as well get some rest. We're going all the way to the land of Pixies, this rids has to be at least 10 light hours long."

Her head rested on the side of the window as she tried to ignore the gurgling noises she heard.

"This'll be an interesting first mission..." Were her last words before she lulled into a comfortable sleep.

* * *

Just because Natsu could not function did not mean Natsu could not think. He had learned the technique from an old guild mate who had moved to the Celestial World, Loke, that sometimes distracting yourself from the pain was a good help.

He usually used the technique on the train or magic mobiles. His thoughts were pretty simple; what he was to eat that night, and what Happy would eat, who to fight next, what has Gray done, and things like that.

However, this time, Natsu could not stick to thoughts of fighting, good, and the stripper.

Lucy had taken over his mind somehow, and he couldn't really explain how or why.

It wasn't because he was attracted to her. Sure, she was pretty. Anybody could see that. Even Natsu knew beauty is on the inside though, and he even ignored her outer looks most of the time.

Somehow, despite all the defenses he put up, especially after her, Lucy had so quickly invaded him.

Maybe it was her smile, maybe it was her personality, if he was cheesy. The way she sassed and held herself.

Or maybe it was the mystery of her. She didn't seem very closed off, but refused to tell overly personal details.

The sadness in her eyes told of countless nights spent sobbing, and he wanted to comfort her, but that might be a bit out of her comfort zone. He couldn't ask others about her either. For one, if she wanted him to know she would tell him. For two, they were all baffled that he showed even remote intrest in a girl. He wasn't really showing interest, persay, but it still shocked them. They would interrogate him, and it wasn't worth the risk to uncover secrets he didn't need.

He had decided to himself one thing, just the day before, as he planned to invite her on a mission.

He was going to figure her out.

* * *

 **I'm so tired. And loopy. One moment I'm talking about how Natsu feels about Lucy, the next I'm talking about a scene from Hannah Montana. No joke. Anyways, sorry this is late. Update schedules are harder than they look. I wanted to make this longer but I felt bad for not updating.**

 **My birthday is next week! Yay for Halloween too! ^^ I hope yall don't get attacked by clowns :p**

 **I'm writing a oneshot so look forward to that :o trying to take a more angsty approach to it, but I can't write angst so it'll be more fluff. Heheh. Still nalu. Always nalu.**

 **Aaaanyways, see you next chapter. Remember to review :)**


	6. VI

**VI. Somnium**

 **Dream**

 **(All filler oops)**

* * *

Their client was an old, humble looking man named Kaby, and his wife. Apparently, Kaby's father Kemu, had just died. They inherited a special book called Daybreak, and it had a special magical block on it. He was taking it to a mountain top temple to see if it would help; but dropped it whilst climbing. The job was a simple one: go retrieve daybreak.

Thing was, Lucy had never climbed a mountain before, and was a little wary of climbing the cold- no, freezing Hakobe Mountain.

"Are you sure I won't fall to my death? Because this is my first mission and I'm not so sure about this. Couldn't we have just walked up? Do they have paths? This seems a little excessive. I'm cold. I need hot chocolate. Hey! You're a dragon, warm me up. Or Happy can carry me" The Spirit chattered endlessly, casting a glance at the Exceed who was lazily floating along with them. Her body jittered and shivered under the snow.

"Wow, you talk a lot," Natsu replied. "But no, you won't fall to your death. If you do, I'll hop down and catch you. We can't just walk up, the paths are covered in mud from a recent mudslide. It is a lot to handle. I don't have any chocolate, and I can't warm you while we climb. You're too heavy to carry."

Lucy was shocked that Natsu could remember each question, but decided not to take the conversation anywhere; it didn't matter.

"I'm NOT too heavy!" She had to shout now, since Natsu was climbing faster than she was.

"Sure you aren't..." Happy snickered. She glared at the cat, who had the _audacity_ to twitch his wings pridefully.

"Would you just stop taunting me and climb, you dumb cat!" She screeched back in response.

"Fufufu..."

About halfway through the mountain, they stopped at a good, flat area. It was getting pretty late, and they hadn't seen the book yet. Kaby apparently dropped the book on the upper half, which explained why.

"Let's rest here." Natsu pointed to the middle of the area, and Lucy nodded. She had sort of been doing just about whatever he said, since she had no idea what she was doing.

"I'll just take the tent an'..." He set the tent up, with little help from Lucy. She didn't know how to set a tent up.

 _Well, I feel a bit useless,_ she thought.

"Happy, wanna go to the base of the mountain and catch some fish for us?" Happy chimed out an 'Aye sir!' And flew down. Lucy wished she could fly...

"Umm... is there anything I could do to help?"

"Hmm? Uh, nah. I got it, don' worry." He replied cheerfully, setting out sticks and lighting them on fire.

"Oh..." She looked down at her feet and grumbled, with a shiver. It felt as if he was practically telling her she was useless straight to her face. "That's a shame."

She twiddled her fingers; what to do, _what to do?_

She just sat down and held herself in her coat. She needed to do something.

She rubbed her arms and looked around. Tent, check. Food, check. Fire slash heat, check. Book, to be found. Though she couldn't very well take care of the mission by herself like that, heck- she probably couldn't climb a mountain without Happy there to catch her.

"Natsuuuu," she whined, "give me something to doooo. I want to be helpful."

Said male just raised an eyebrow. "You, a female, don't wan't me t' do all the work?"

Lucy snorted. What was he talking about?

"Of course not, idiot! I wanna be helpful!"

"Oh, well," he frowned thoughtfully. "You could take out the sleepin' bags, an' set 'em up in there. Happy usually sleeps in mine, an' I'm sure you brought yours?"

Lucy paled. "Yeah... haha! Of course! Haha!" Her voice came out in strained laughs.

She had left her sleeping bag on the train.

* * *

"I'm so stupid!" Lucy chanted. "Stupid! I'm so-"

"STUPID. Yes, we get it, now could you please _shut up?_ So I can, you know, zzzz-t?" Natsu cut the females sad words off and waved his fingers in the air.

Lucy glared at him and curled back under her coat.

Shiver, shiiiver.

She flipped over and faced the other way. Now, she faced the tent wall instead of Natsu and his taunting sleeping bag. "This _sucks."_ She muttered softly.

"Do you wanna use my sleeping bag?" She felt a tap on her shoulder and nearly screetched.

"Natsu! Don't do that."

The Dragon-Demon just rolled his eyes. "You want it or not? I'm a dragon AND a demon, I have natural heat practically jumping out of me."

Lucy stared at him in contemplation, before snorting. "You perv- I'm not sharing a sleeping bag with you!" She slapped his sleeping bag lightly. She could feel a bit of heat radiating from him even all the way out of the sleeping bag, which was supposed to be heat trapping. It would definitely be... warm enough in there. She would be lying if she said it didn't sound nice.

She wasn't stupid though. No way was she sharing a sleeping bag with _that_ idiot.

"Fine, do you want the sleeping bag for yourself then?" He tried.

"I'm not taking your sleeping bag." She rejected, once more.

"C'mon, I don't need the heat."

She just shook her head. "No way."

"Fine, your loss." He snorted and turned on his side.

Lucy looked at him wantingly.

She was so cold.

Screw niceness, "Actually..."

Natsu laughed expectantly. "Thought so."

* * *

It was a sunny day in the Imperial Capitol when she awoke. She turned her head side to side.

"Where am I...?" She paused in her surveying to glance over herself. She opened and closed her hands. "I'm on _Earth?"_ All around her was golden grass. A large, industrialized looking area could be seen on the horizon.

That wasn't possible; mixes were not allowed on Earth; in fact, Earth was seperate from all other areas. The travel to Earth was limited to business only; Imperials followed a Purity of Race lifestyle; thus why she had to leave as a child _._

 _Oh, I'm dreaming_! She realized. Lucid dreaming was something she enjoyed.

"Don't know why my dreams have to send me to Earth," she said to herself, "But if they're going to, might as well make the best of it." She jumped up from her sitting position and glanced around more. "Which way, hmm..." oh, I'll go-"

"This way, this way!" She heard a whisper in her ear, earning a flinch.

Lucy flipped around and flung her arms out- self defense is never a crime.

Instead of some sort of bandit who wanted to kidnap her or something, Lucy saw a dragon wagging it's Tail happily. "This way, little Imperial!"

Where did a DRAGON come from?

"Umm..."

"Come or I'll eat you up like lunch!"

"Eek! Okay! I'm coming!"

The dragon raced off away from the city. She chased after him as quickly as she could.

He led her to a large mountain, in a rockier area. "Come in!" He cheered, plunging into the cave.

"What is this?" She asked as she followed him.

"My home!" The dragon sang out. She watched in awe as the dragon lifted itself off the ground and flew in erratic seeming circles.

"Oh! Oh! This is my cat!" A giant, flying, blue, fat cat came parading in from father in the cave. "Aye sir!" The cat meowed.

The cat made Lucy very... _happy._ Like she could screech in joy.

"Aye sir! Aye sir! Aye sir!" He chanted robotically.

Lucy couldn't find it in her to frown or scowl at it. She tried to screech for it to stop being like that but... she couldn't. The cat made her happy.

However, the cat began to step towards her. Lucy felt the dream-cave shake beneath her bare feet.

She couldn't frown... but she could run.

She flipped around and squealed, in a way to happy sounding way, and ran her way out of the cave.

"Why are you leaving?!" The dragon roared. "Don't leave!"

"Aye sir! Aye sir!"

Lucy kept running, but she tripped at the entrance to the cave.

Happy was chasing after her at a mach speed and couldn't stop in time.

In that sort of dream slo-mo type feel, the giant robotic cat seemed to tumble down.

Before it could hit her, Lucy woke up.

"Luuushie!" The drowsy girl felt a fish slap her head. "Wake uuup!"

She jolted up and stared at Happy.

The robot cat and the dragon...

As if she could have a cheese dream. Ugh, get a hold of yourself, Lucy.

"Yay, you're up!" Happy pranced around in the air. "It's so boring. Natsu sleeps like a log, he won't be up foreeeever."

"Oh, I see..." She glanced at the male, then down at her... er, Natsu's sleeping bag. She was certainly greatful for it, but she felt bad Natsu had to sleep out in the open.

She climbed out of the sleeping bag and placed it on Natsu, messily. She supposed it was better than nothing.

"Hey Lucy?" Happy meowed behind her.

"Yeah, cat?" She turned around to face Happy.

"Do spirits put on weight in their sleep? Cause I swear you look a pound or twenty fatter now-"

"You're dead, Cat!"

* * *

 **short chapter with 100% bad quality and filler bc I'm too busy freaking out about how Trump is taking over America. Ave atque vale, america. Hail and farewell. ^^;.**

 **Also rip update schedule. I don't need one of those things baaah.**

 **Okay so actually schedules are a LOT HARDER than they seem and the chapters seem way to forced so no schedule. :)**


	7. VII

**_VII_**

* * *

Lucy looked around at the mountain. They had continued their trek up the mountain about an hour or two ago, and there was nothing in sight so far.

On top of that, she had heard rumors of the higher areas of Mt. Hakobe. Rumors about... Vulcans. And apparently a very perverted old man lived around here too.

With Lucy being the, obviously, beautiful young lady she was, she was worried about her privacy and safety. She was mature and beautiful and busy- and if you asked her, that was what most pervs looked for in a woman. More so, she didn't really have room to put 'get perved on', on her agenda.

"Hey Lucy." She looked up. Natsu must have been atleast 20 feet ahead of her.

So what if she isn't a rock-climbing expert?

"Yes, Natsu?" She sighed.

"You're really bad at this."

A sudden rage burned in Lucy.

"I'll show you bad!"

Natsu pressed an icicle from off the side of the mountain against his cheek. Man, that woman could hit.

"Where is this book?" Lucy moaned tiredly beside him. "It's so cold and I would really love to be at home and eat more of Mira's home cooking...

"On top of that, this must be some sort of wild goose chase! Trying to find a single book on one of the tallest mountains in this universe?"

"Speaking of books," Natsu paused, "I think I just saw a Vulcan run off with one."

Lucy froze. Now they were Vulcan hunting... Great.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

Lucy groaned and followed the Dragon who was, surprisingly, nearly jumping in excitement. Though she supposed it wasn't that surprising for Natsu.

The two of them climbed up and to the right to reach the cave Natsu had supposedly seen the Vulcan enter. Happy levitated behind them, making occasional cracks about his wings being oh-so tired.

When they reached the cave, an unsettling feeling washed over Lucy. She didn't have much in the way of combat to defend herself. She used to, but most of her defense tactics were lost as she settled into the spirit world.

Her whip jingled on her hip as she swayed with each step towards the entrance. Her whip was all she had.

Well, she supposed Natsu was a bit of a form of self defense too... she froze and shook her head. That was such a weird thing to think!

She ignored Natsu and Happy's excited words to one another as they entered the cave and looked around.

"I say we split up."

Lucy gave Natsu a mortified look. "Split up!?" She said, flabbergasted.

"Absolutely not! You roped me into this, Natsu Etherious Dragneel, and you are not leaving me to, potentially, fend for myself again st a raging vulcan." She crossed her arms to further his point.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her. "You're a weirdo." He stated. She harrumphed and crossed her arms. She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm a weirdo."

"As I was saying," she continued, "no splitsies."

Natsu huffed in defeat and crossed his muscular arms to match hers. "Fine then!" He agreed. His voice went to a higher pitch in his childish attempt to mock her.

Upon seeing the blonde's glower, Natsu quickly dropped his arms to a resting position.

"Good." Lucy replied. The two marched in unceremoniously. Happy floated above their heads and drifted along with them as they explored the cave.

"You know, this is a really long shot. Some random Vulcan carrying a book some guy dropped on the mountain," The spirit reasoned.

Natsu just shrugged. " 's the only lead we got, though." He reminded her. His blonde traveling companion sighed; an action he'd come to realize she did a lot.

Then, out of the blue, Natsu stopped in front of her. "Nats-?"

"Duck!" A pair of strong arms pulled her over and down. She couldn't see, but she heard a lot of crashing from behind her.

Natsu stood up and so she did too; when she turned around, the once glittering cave of ice was now more like crushed ice piled messily everywhere.

"What happened?" She heard Happy call from above the pair.

"Well, obviously," Natsu said, as if the cat was stupid, "It was that Vulcan up there." He pointed to what was, yeah, definitely a Vulcan.

Lucy's pale skin got even paler. "Ah, ahhh, no thank you!" She quickly backed up, and probably would have kept backing up if it weren't for the icy cold wall she had just collided with.

"Darn it! I don't wanna diiiie!" She whined.

Natsu deadpanned at her. "As if I'd let it kill you. How do you plan on being a successful Fairy Tail mage if you can't even fight a Vulcan?"

"Why you little- eep! Don't come Amy closer!" She jumped when she saw the huge mountainous monster coming towards her.

Natsu flashed in front of her and lit his fist up into a blaze of fire. "Stay away from Lucy!" He warned. From her point of view, the sight of Natsu was absolutely horrifying. However, to a Vulcan who met tons of travelers like Natsu- and absorbed them, probably- it wouldn't to be frightening of a sight.

She couldn't see his facial expression, but he didn't sound legitimately mad at the Vulcan. He sounded like a young boy off to a festival or something! Lucy was appalled by his light heartedness in such a dire situation.

The Vulcan stopped for a second, but shortly after rushed towards Natsu.

Natsu rushed straightforwards back at the Vulcan.

They collided in a massive, explosive sight.

Lucy watched, her untrained eyes darted with confusion at the two. She really didn't understand combat at all.

Natsu's fists, alight with blazing red fire- though, she did note black, peeking in, barely noticable,- pressed punch upon punch to the Vulcan.

The Vulcan was obviously taking damage, even now that it was in a defensive position. Then, it's eyes fell upon Lucy knce more.

It went flying back from a hit it had gotten from Natsu. Despite damage, the beast's attention was solely on her.

Suddenly, to everyone's shock, the Vulcan spoke.

"Yoy girl. You ugly. No good for me." It stomped it's foot onto the ground and the rock below them shot up suddenly like a wave in a narrow like headed towards the gaping, distracted female.

Thankfully, Happy dove in at just the right moment and grabbed Lucy. He picked her up by the back of her shirt and sped off to the side, where he safely place dher on the groung. "Thanks Hap!" Natsu chimed.

Happy "Aye!"-ed in responce.

The Vulcan growled. "Me no like ugly girls! Gate open!"

Lucy gasped in shock. This Vulcan had a KEY? She felt the familiar tingle down her spine, from a gate being opened. She closed her eyes and withstood the surge of wind that came from the summoning.

When she opened her eyes, she could hardly believe what she saw.

She gasped. This was one enemy she knew she wouldn't like to fight. "...Virgo!?"

* * *

I really wanted to update and I have stuff to do and I've been "in the shower" for like 2 hours ... Aka sitting on the toilet writing this. Its not even proofread once lmao oh well x'D. I didn't name the chap either. Just be happy with an update K? I'm not dead, promise. I just really lost all interest in this plot line ^^'.


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